Jan 14, 2005 05: 10 ESTFor the first time since 1988, an eight-thousander has had it's first winter summit, and for the first time ever - by a non-Polish climber.

Simone Moro (Italy) and Piotr Morawski (Poland) made the summit of Shisha Pangma tonight and have descended safely back to camp 2 (7400 m). The weather was very windy with winds exceeding 30 m/s (hurricane force).

This is a dream come true for Simone and a great victory for Piotr after last year's aborted attempt. The entire team is celebrating on the cold mountain. A full report and images are to follow later today.

Up until now only 8 out of all 14 eight-thousanders have been winter climbed. All first winter accents were made by Polish climbers in Calendar winter, from Everest in 1980 to Lhotse in 1988 - the last time (before tonight) someone set foot on a virgin summit higher than 8000m during the winter.